


Day Six: Thyme in the Tea

by smirkdoctor



Series: Smirk’s Twelvetide [6]
Category: Little Women (2019), Little Women Series - Louisa May Alcott
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Very old spoiler, yes they really did use thyme in medicinal tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:27:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22026316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smirkdoctor/pseuds/smirkdoctor
Summary: At Beth’s bedside, Jo wishes that Marmee’s special tea was really a cure-all.
Series: Smirk’s Twelvetide [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1582108
Kudos: 7
Collections: Twelvetide Drabbles 2019





	Day Six: Thyme in the Tea

Through the winter of Beth’s illness, Jo called Marmee’s herbal tea a panacea. So many childhood ills...fever, sour stomach, sore throat, coryza, even bruised egos...were helped by the strong brew of thyme combined with summer’s honey.

But now, In vigil beside her dear Beth in their formerly shared bedchamber, Jo despairingly watched shallow breaths rattle through pale blue lips. 

Since her sister’s speech at the seaside, Jo had come to realize that the magic of childhood, the loving patches and brewed solutions to small ailments, had passed, as surely as her belief in the magic of her words.

**Author's Note:**

> I did some research and thyme does have a medicinal history. It’s not explicitly mentioned in the book or the movie, but where the prompt falls...use it, I guess.
> 
> I really liked the construction of this film, where the stories from the sisters’ adult lives run in parallel with their childhood. In particular, overlaying the scenes of Beth’s recovery from Scarlet Fever and death from rheumatic heart disease is 


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